Lee Jun-hyuk has spent nearly two decades working steadily in Korean entertainment. With The Ordinary Jackpot, the 42-year-old actor found a story that asked a simple but powerful question: what would you do if money stopped being the reason you work? The 10-episode tvN and TVING drama follows Gong Eun-tae, a sales team leader who wins 1.3 billion KRW (about $950,000) in the lottery and then returns to his desk job the next morning. The show wrapped its run on October 13, 2026, with its finale earning a nationwide rating of 6.2 percent, the highest of the series. In a series of interviews, Lee opened up about why the role felt personal, what he learned about purpose, and the risks he wants to take as an actor.
A Lottery Win That Does Not Mean Quitting
The drama’s setup sounds like a fantasy: an overworked office employee wins a life-changing sum and could walk away. Instead, Gong Eun-tae stays. The prize is not enough to retire in Seoul, and the show treats the money as a psychological shift rather than an escape hatch. Lee explained that the lottery is a metaphor, not a solution.
“The lottery itself is really just a metaphor for the idea that maybe good things can happen if we approach our professional lives with confidence. It’s a story for people who work hard.”
That choice to stay at work gave the series its unusual tone. Rather than a revenge fantasy about a worker quitting in style, The Ordinary Jackpot looks at how people define themselves when survival is no longer the only reason to show up. Lee said he wanted viewers to feel pride in what they do, even when the job is routine.
“I wanted viewers to take pride in the work they do. Cinema and mainstream media frequently glamorise certain professions, even when the daily reality is vastly different.”
Why Lee Jun-hyuk Related to Gong Eun-tae
Lee does not pretend his life matches a regular office worker’s daily routine. Still, he found a clear parallel between his own career and Eun-tae’s path. Over 20 years, he has appeared in around 50 projects, and he says the grind of continuing to work after a hit feels familiar.
“I haven’t made a lot of money over past 20 years, nor have I become some huge star. I’m still simply working hard.”
That honesty shaped how he played Eun-tae. The character is not transformed by money into a different person. The win gives him room to breathe, and that breathing room gives him courage.
“Money didn’t change him so much as give him the breathing room to find the courage to act.”
Lee also pointed out that one win cannot carry a career, and Eun-tae understands that. The actor called the character someone with a strong core, and he related to the workplace culture and the way Eun-tae thinks through problems.
The Real Jackpot: Purpose Over Payday
The interviews around The Ordinary Jackpot kept returning to the same idea: purpose matters more than a sudden pile of cash. Lee said the project came to him at a moment when he was asking what kind of role models and vision should come next in his work. He found part of the answer in Sully: Miracle on the Hudson, the Tom Hanks film about people doing the right thing under pressure.
“I’m a fan of the film Sully, which asks what kind of miracle can happen when everyone does the right thing. After spending so much time working to clean up society, I began to wonder what kind of role models and vision we should look towards next. Around that time, this project came along and seemed like the answer to my question.”
Lee also used the film to explain why he would keep acting even if he won the lottery himself. He pointed to Tom Cruise, who continues to take on new challenges despite his wealth, and said that kind of drive only comes from genuinely loving the work. If he did win, Lee said he would put the money into creating content rather than spending it on himself.
A Small Lottery Win During Filming
Lee did not just act the part. He started buying lottery tickets while filming to get closer to Eun-tae’s mindset, even though he had not been a regular buyer before. The experiment produced one small win: 5,000 KRW. He joked that he had hoped for a bigger headline.
“I thought it would be hilarious if I really won. I kept thinking about how funny it would be if a headline came out saying I’d won the lottery while working on this project. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. I did win one 5,000-won prize, though.”
Taking Risks as an Actor
Lee described himself as someone who gets bored easily and looks for something new. That restlessness has pushed him across genres, from the crime thriller Stranger to the fantasy blockbusters Along with the Gods and the office romance Love Scout. He said the risk of trying unfamiliar material is part of the job.
“I boldly took on the occult genre, only to realise that it’s no easy task. Even if the final result isn’t a perfect 100 out of 100, I still want to tell stories that haven’t been told before.”
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Finale Ratings and Global Reach
The October 13, 2026 finale of The Ordinary Jackpot drew a 6.2 percent nationwide average, making it the most-watched cable show of any kind on that Tuesday. The series also ranked first on TVING subscriptions and performed well on Disney+ Japan and Rakuten Viki.
For global viewers, The Ordinary Jackpot is available on TVING in South Korea and aired on tvN. International streaming is split by region: Prime Video in India, Rakuten Viki in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Oceania, and India, HBO Max across 18 Asia-Pacific countries, and Disney+ Japan through the TVING Collection. All 10 episodes have been released.
For more inside stories on the actors and dramas shaping Korean entertainment, keep reading VvipTimes.
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